This is an issue that first showed up in 2011 when Ford redesigned the transmission on the Focus and Fiesta. Ford tried to fix the problem but the complaints keep coming in. But the government has not ordered a recall.

For Pat Bittler of Mercer, driving can be an adventure full of surprises.

“It's like it doesn't want to shift and then that hesitation you feel and it'll kick in,” she said.

This is after Bittler took her 2012 Ford Focus back to the dealer multiple times, all for complaints about the transmission. At first, it was having problems shifting at lower speeds.

“It wasn't shifting. It wouldn't go. It would literally bog down,” she said.

Now, she says that has been fixed, but she still has problems at higher speeds. It's bad enough that she is afraid to take the car on long trips.

She has plenty of company. WTAE checked court records and found 36 lawsuits filed in just the past seven months, alleging defective transmissions on the Focus or the Fiesta. And this is just in Allegheny County.

Attorney Zachary Kappel's firm, Kimmel & Silverman, has filed more than 100 lemon law suits about Ford transmissions on behalf of clients in Pennsylvania, including Bittler.

“It is a very serious problem and a serious safety concern for many of these consumers,” Kappel said.

Court records reveal many of those concerns mirror Bittler's. Complaints include a shaking or grinding noise; the vehicle hesitating and vibrating; a noise in the transmission; and the transmission not shifting properly.

“Banging, jumping, slipping, skipping and it's become an issue that's now affected the drivability and safety of the vehicles,” Kappel said.

In one case, a Focus took off in a lurch, the driver lost control and then hit two cars and tore down a fence.

In another case, the car accelerated rapidly and crashed into a cement wall.

Reporter Paul Van Osdol tried calling and emailing Ford. The company refused to do an on-camera interview but instead sent a statement that says in part: "Ford's PowerShift automated-manual transmission uses an advanced configuration that provides exceptional powertrain efficiency, along with a potential for unique shift-feel compared to conventional automatics. We take customer concerns seriously, and are committed to investigating those concerns and responding to our customers."

Bill Visnic, senior editor at Edmunds.com, says the Ford transmission is basically a hybrid of an automatic and a manual, aimed at improving gas mileage.

“In a dual-clutch, automated-manual sometimes you do feel those shifts and you do feel a little bit of roughness and maybe jerkiness because you're just going directly from one gear to another,” he said.

Like a manual transmission, it's trickier on hills, which may explain why Pittsburgh drivers have had a tougher time with it. Some drivers have complained their cars roll backward when they're stopped on a hill.

“I do think roll-back has been one of the biggest problems with this transmission. It's a very,very difficult thing,” Visnic said.

He said Ford has improved the transmission in the last two years and it's issued technical service bulletins to help dealers make it shift more smoothly. But some drivers may never be satisfied.

“To them a fix means it's going to be just like the automatic transmission in my brother's Buick and it's not. And it's never going to be,” Visnic said.

Tracey Shearer of Hopewell has had problems with her Focus transmission ever since she bought the car last year.

“It's like a weird grinding, crunching sound, like the shuddering of the engine when it was going through first and second gear phase,” she said.

She also said the car occasionally jolts forward when shifting at low gear. She took the car back to the dealer multiple times but they kept telling her it was normal.

“When I bought the car I didn't sign up to have a car that made weird noises,” she said.

So she filed a lemon law complaint against Ford. She says the company needs to be held accountable.

“Obviously I'm afraid of rear ending someone,” she said.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has not ordered a recall of these transmissions. The agency declined to say why. A spokesman said NHTSA carefully reviews all consumer complaints and investigates when the data warrants.